LEGO® Speed Champions review: 76915 Pagani Utopia

The super cars of Pagani blur the lines between automobile and art. Horacio Pagani's latest masterpiece, the Utopia, would look equally at home in a museum or a garage. I'm not a big car fan by any means but even I can appreciate this work of art! Let's take a look at the LEGO® version of the stunning 'hyper car of the future'.

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LEGO® Speed Champions 76915 Pagani Utopia 

• US$24.99/ £19.99/ 24.99€/ AU$32.99
• 249 parts
• 1 March 2022

LEGO Speed Champions 76915 Pagani Utopia on LEGO.com

 

New elements

Left and Right Roof Tile 2x5, 45 Deg. (Design IDs 3504 and 3505)

• 1x Wedge (Left) in Dark Bluish Gray (6431186 | 3504)
• 1x Wedge (Right) in Dark Bluish Gray (6431187 | 3505) 

These two new wedge moulds are another Pagani exclusive which you won't find in any other March 2023 Speed Champions set.

Although 5 modules long, this new wedge follows the same geometry as a 3 x 6 wedge plate. According to LEGO Speed Champions creative lead Christopher Leslie Stamp, a module was removed from its length to make the element safer, because it would be dangerously sharp if it were six long! 

The wedges' 45 degree profile complements the existing wedges and slopes. It also works nicely with the new Pagani windscreen element, providing a seamless transition from window to bodywork.

Builders might consider pairing it with Wedge Sloped 45° Sloped 3 x 3 (Right 48165, Left 42862) as not only does the element have the same 45 degree slope, but it also shares the same shaped footprint. They'll have to be patient though as the two  bricks don't come in the same colour yet.

It's so exciting to get a new type of wedge element and I'm eager to see them appear in more colours. I'm curious to see the cone shape four of these can potentially make around a brick, modified with studs on four sides.

Chassis 6x12x1 1/3 No. 1 (Design ID 3385)

• 1x Car Base 6 x 12 with 5 x 6 Recessed Centre and Studs on Sides in Black (6424673 | 3385) 

This new element can also be found in 76914 Ferrari Competizione and 76918 McLaren Solus GT & McLaren F1 LM. I'll take a proper look at this element when I review the Ferrari next week.

Mudguard 2x4x2, No. 2 (3387)

• 4x Mudguard in Dark Bluish Gray (6424675 | 3387)

The Dark Bluish Grey versions are exclusive to this set but you can get them in White in both 76916 Porsche 963 and 76918 McLaren Solus GT & McLaren F1 LM. You will also be able to get them in Red in 76914 Ferrari 812 Competizione. Come back to New E. next week when I'll provide a better look at these along with the Ferrari itself.

Windscreen 6x6x1 1/3 (3383)

• 1x Windscreen in Trans-Black (6437921)

A brand-new windscreen mould, with a print which luckily is pretty generic, with no large logos or emblems emblazoned on it to hamper usability in MOCs. This is the only March 2023 Speed Champions set to include this new mould. 

"Last year we knew that this was the first element we wanted. We'd done the headlights [for the 76907 Lotus Evija at the time] last year and we wanted a new cockpit as well, but unfortunately we didn't do it. LEGO Speed Champions tend to only get 4, maybe 5 new elements and sometime as few as 2. Plus, when you're doing lefts and rights, you automatically lose the number of elements you can introduce. But we wanted this new windscreen element for our new Pagani."  

-  LEGO® Speed Champions creative lead Christopher Leslie Stamp

Like its smaller four-wide sibling which appears in both 76916 Porsche 963 and 76918 McLaren Solus GT & McLaren F1 LM, this element was designed to capture that important aerodynamic teardrop shape common on many of todays hypercars. 

"We're working with Pagani for the first time ever. We really wanted to capture its teardrop shape. When you look at the cockpits that we already have on LEGO Speed Champions - which we're not going to delete, we still use them - we have this older version [65633]. It’s got these nice A pillars, but it also has sharp corners too, so we couldn’t actually create the teardrop as nicely as we thought we could." 

"Also, if you look at the other cockpit that we have [65632, left in the image above], which we use on the Nissan, it's a bit more boxy and a bit more for the the squared-off vehicles rather than these aerodynamic, teardrop shaped vehicles."

"So we felt there was something in between that was missing. We’ve taken the 65633 windscreen (centre in the image above) and given it an upgrade by smoothing off the surfaces and that allows you to finally create that teardrop shape accurately. You can see that you don't need it for all our cars, like the new Ferrari 812 Competizione and the McLaren F1 LM, so we’re still using the older version."       

- Chris Stamp 

 The Pagani windscreen is basically a wider version of that found in the Porsche. The base of the Porsche canopy was 4 modules and the top was 2 modules which is twice as wide at 6 modules and 4 modules respectively. 

As a result, they stack nicely! 

Plate 1x1x2/3, w/ 1 Knob, Rounded (3386)

• 4x Plate 1 x 1 x 2/3 Half Round with Side Stud in Black (6424674 | 3386) 

This is a fantastic new element that I can’t get enough of. Luckily, it also makes an appearance in 76916 Porsche 963 and 76918 McLaren Solus GT & McLaren F1 LM. For a closer look at this element, check out my review of 76916 Porsche 963 and read our interview with Speed Champions creative lead, Chris Stamp.

Plate 1x3, Rounded, No. 1 (77850)

• 6x Plate Round 1 x 3 in Black (6428168)

You’ll also find this element in 76916 Porsche 963, which only contained 4, and it looks to appear in 76918 McLaren Solus GT & McLaren F1 LM. 

It's super-useful for everybody, but as New E. reader lbear11 pointed out last week, a particular benefit for LEGO® BIONICLE® builders is that a lot of Bionicle foot and torso pieces have connections in 1x3 increments, so this is a great adaptor piece!

New Minifigure Parts in 76915 Pagani Utopia

• 1x New Torso in Black (6438063 | 973cxx)
• 1x New legs in Black (6437922 | 970cxx) 

As this is the first collaboration between LEGO and Pagani, we get a new minifigure dressed for the occasion. The hair is a recolour, which leads us neatly to the next section.

Recolours

• 2x Slope Curved 3 x 2 with Stud Notch Left with print in Dark Bluish Gray (6437916 | 80177prx)
• 2x Slope Curved 3 x 2 with Stud Notch Right with print in Dark Bluish Gray (6437917 | 80178prx)

• 1x Hair Tousled, Short in Dark Orange (6424855 | 36762)
• 4x Wheel Rim 24 x 12 with Black Tyre in Flat Silver (6438086 | 72206)

After becoming available in Pearl Gold and Tan last year, the usually-black LEGO Harry Potter wig is now available in Dark Orange.

New Printed Elements

The Pagani contains three existing elements with new prints, starting with this plate:

• 1x Plate 1 x 6 with print in Black (6437919 | 3666prx)

And two printed tiles:

• 1x Tile Round 2 x 2 in Silver Ink with print (6437920 | 17469prx)
• 1x Tile Round 1 x 1 Half Circle in Black with print (6437918 | 24246prxx) 

What an interesting decoration on that 2x2 round tile: coincidentally, the print representing Pagani's signature 4-pipe exhaust evokes the tubes on the bottom of a  LEGO brick. 

Rare Elements 

The following appear in 2 other sets:

• 2 x 3821 Door 1 x 3 x 1 Right in Dark Stone Grey / Dark Bluish Gray (4219204 | 3821)
• 2 x 3822 Door 1 x 3 x 1 Left in Dark Stone Grey / Dark Bluish Gray (4219205 | 3822)

It's hard to believe that such a common element in such a common colour has only been used in one set prior to this. That set in question is LEGO Star Wars 4504 Millennium Falcon, released way back in 2004. BrickLink prices are surprisingly low for this rare element, but nevertheless it's good to see its re-release.

The following appear in 3 other sets: 

• 2x  x 70681 Brick Curved, 3 x 1 with 1/3 Inverted Cutout in Dark Stone Grey / Dark Bluish Grey (6388127 | 70681) 
• 2 x 79491 Plate 2 x 2 Round Corner with 1 x 1 Cutout in Bright Yellow/ Yellow (6365891 | 79491)
• 2 x 24246 Tile Round 1 x 1 Half Circle in Medium Nougat (6349124 | 35399)

• 1x Bag Containing Wheel Cover 5 Spoke and 9 Spoke in Pearl Dark Grey (6323457 | 72210)

Sticker Sheet

The 76915 Pagani Utopia sticker sheet contains just a few stickers. The designs are used to represent a few small details like the petrol cap and the vents which are dotted around the vehicle. Given how small they are I don't think they greatly affect the look of the finished model, so I chose not to apply them. See the picture at the end of the post if you're unfamiliar with the stickered version.

Building 76915 Pagani Utopia

The organic shapes of the Pagani Utopia are not an easy to replicate in LEGO bricks but the LEGO Speed Champions team have used some astounding techniques to reproduce them. 

The building instructiuons start at the back, which I found to be the most intricate and satisfying portion of the build.

Car doors are the perfect element to represent the unique shaping in this area. It works so well that I can forgive the use of the printed tile for the 4 exhaust pipes rather than a brick built solution. 

This whole section is a complicated little sub-assembly, with studs facing almost all directions and it's clipped on at an angle with a remarkably seamless finish. I did experience a little wobble in this area which might annoy some builders.

The luxurious interior is represented well enough in Nougat elements, though from the pictures of the actual car I've seen, I might have preferred Dark Red here. Two roller skates hint at an engine concealed beneath the body work and are visible through the rear window, just like the real thing.

The build ends with a bang, with a wonderfully complex solution to the bonnet and air intake on the front. 

Closing Thoughts

Like the real Utopia, the LEGO version has curves in all the right places thanks to some innovative building techniques. Some fantastic new elements, namely the new windscreen, wedges, and wheel arches, also help to capture the look of the car rather accurately. The new chassis element helps bring the Utopia super-low to the ground. I'll be looking at that element in detail in my next review.

Even with a printed tile to represent the 4 exhausts on the back, the rear is easily my favourite part of the model, both in terms of its construction and the finished product. There is some equally ingenious parts usage to create the shapes up front too, with those clips and ice skates put to excellent use. 

If I had one criticism of the set, it would be the colour scheme. I don't think the dull Dark Bluish Grey was the right choice here. I might suggest Dark Blue or Sand Blue: neither have featured prominently in LEGO Speed Champions sets before and would certainly make the Pagani stand out. On the other hand, Dark Bluish Grey is a relatively generic colour and one I use often, so the new parts that appear in this colour will be appearing in MOCs in the future.

 

With that nitpick aside, the Utopia lives up to its name as LEGO Speed Champions continues to prove that they are among the best sets on shelves at the moment, providing an exceptional building experience and variety of parts in a small package.

The stickers supplied with the Pagani are responsible for just a few quite subtle details, so I didn't apply them to my model: I'm satisfied with how it looks without them. 

©2023 The LEGO Group

Here is an official image from LEGO showing the models with all the stickers applied.

LEGO® Speed Champions 76915 Pagani Utopia costs US$24.99/ £19.99/ 24.99€/ AU$32.99 from LEGO.com. If you enjoy our work, please consider using our affiliate links, we may get a commission: 

LEGO Speed Champions 76915 Pagani Utopia on LEGO.com

Editor: Chris Baginski

READ MORE: LEGO® City review and MOCs: 60338 Smashing Chimpanzee Stunt Loop

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